United States v. Burkhart
United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
602 F.3d 1202 (2010)
- Written by Sharon Feldman, JD
Facts
Europol sent the Federal Bureau of Investigation 45 emails between an Italian national who was operating a website that sold child pornography and an email address belonging to William Burkhart (defendant). The emails reflected purchases of videos featuring a 13-year-old girl. The most recent message was dated December 2, 2005. On May 8, 2008, agents executed a warrant at an address linked to Burkhart and found more than 400 DVDs containing images of child pornography. The affidavit submitted in support of the warrant described the volume of Burkhart’s emails with the Italian distributor, the enthusiasm Burkhart expressed about the 13-year-old girl depicted in the videos he purchased, and the observation that child-pornography collectors typically retain the materials for many years. Burkhart pled guilty to possessing child pornography and argued on appeal that the district court erred in denying his motion to suppress the videos. Burkhart maintained that the passage of time between his last email with the Italian distributor and the search of his home indicated that he had stopped obtaining child pornography and therefore probable cause for the search was lacking.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Kelly, J.)
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